Hurt
by This One is Dead
Summary: Prequal to Good Night. Dally is now free from suicidal thoughts and lays in the hospital bed all bandaged up. Thinking more clearly, he feels stupid.


A/N: This idea came to me right after I uploaded Good Night. At first, I thought it was a tad sappy, but I changed my mind. Basically because we need more DallyPony fluffy goodness. So yeah...Enjoy!

--

Dally's muttering language was definitely more colorful than the room he was stuck in. The minute he was taken to the hospital, he was given surgery to take out all the bullets that were thrown at him. It took at least two or so days to finish the procedure. Now, he's stuck laying on his back in a really uncomfortable bed.

Whoever gave the idea to keep the air conditioner's temperature super low and to give every patient damn thin blankets needs to die, needs to fucking die, Dally thought. He didn't have so much trouble the last time he was there. He only had one arm bandaged, so he didn't have much trouble covering himself with the blanket. Today though, his ribs, his waste, and both arms were in pain to even move them and the blanket was covering from his feet to his waste.

When he had woken up from surgery, his insane urge to commit suicide hadn't left him. Johnny didn't deserve to die. He risked his life for those kids, and what reward did he get? Dally wanted to die himself right on the dot.

That was when Darry came in and how stupid did he feel...

_The muscular man stood next to him with his arms crossed over his chest. _

"_What do you want?" Dallas hissed at him._

_Darrel kept silent._

"_Well?"_

"_You just couldn't take it, couldn't you?" He said as he got a chair to sit._

_Dally sighed. He knew exactly what the older man meant. He was talking about him taking Johnny's death. He won't keep silent, knowing that Darry won't leave until he receives answers. _

"_No," __h__e said, practically silent. His face was more impassive than what he felt inside._

"_Ever thought you'd put the gang in more grief?"_

"_I don't give a damn," __h__e answered, silently convincing to himself that it was the truth, which was far from it. True, he didn't care then, but no__w__ he could think more clearly._

_It was silent then, and Dally hated it. It was like keeping everything in suspense, so he was thinking of topics, hoping it would change the subject._

_That was when Dally realized that he left Ponyboy alone in Johnny's death bed...Oh dear God..._

"_Hey, how's the kid?" __h__e randomly blurted out. He wanted to give it a little bit of time to think about bringing it up, but he really wanted to know if Pony was alright. He rarely got a glimpse of him before getting shot..._

"_He fainted," Darry snapped Dally out of his thoughts, "after watching you getting shot by the fuzz__"_

_Dally returned to his thoughts. How could he be so stupid? Pony saw Johnny die, yet he just left him there without thinking. He almost died himself in front of him, too._

"_Hey," Darry got him out of his thoughts again. Damn, Dally thought, I really need to focus._ "_How is he now?"_

_Darry let out a chuckle, "You seem to care__"_

_Dally surrendered and smile. He couldn't deny the fact he cared for the youngest of the gang, almost like he cared for Johnny. _

"_He's been delirious and sleeping since he fainted," Darry went o__n.__ "He's been calling people in his sleep, too__" __H__e flinched slightly at the memory of his youngest brother calling for him, needing him..._

"_Like who?"_

"_He mostly calls for Soda, but he calls for Johnny, our parents, me..." Darry looked down at his lap, for the memory returning for briefly three seconds and looked back at the greaser in bed, "...you__"_

_Dally's eyebrows sprung __up.__ "Me?" He would never expect Pony to be wanting him near him._

"_Yeah, most of his calling for you involved that shooting," Darry trailed off, automatically regretting sharing that piece of info. He could tell that Dally was trying to hide a painful expression, but failing miserably at it. He had always seen Dallas's expressions as either careless, cold, and mean. Sometimes protective. This one was completely different. Darry looked at his watch, half-hoping that it was time for his break at work to end quickly._

"_Hey, I, uh, gotta go__" He got up from the chair and left the hospital room._

Dally continued his mutter at curse words. He had been there for nearly two days after the surgery and was bored out of his mind. Whenever he wanted to sit up, he couldn't, for the blind pain on his chest and arms would come at him full force.

"Honey, you don't look so good," one of the nurses said from outside the door.

"I know," he heard a completely different voice this time. "I'm sick, but I'll go on home soon." It sounded familiar...could it be...

"Oh, but couldn't you have waited until you felt a little better before coming?" The nurse's caring voice had always seem annoying to Dallas.

"I don't care. Let me in!" The voice was becoming more apparent, since it was slightly louder this time.

The door was opened immediately, and Ponyboy came in. The nurse closed the door behind him, and he went up to the chair next to Dally that hasn't moved since the last visit.

"Hey Dal," Pony wished that he hadn't come, because he still felt sick and tired. But he wanted to see Dally. He hadn't seen him since the incident, which he thought he died right then and there. His gaze was more at his lap than on Dallas.

"Hey kid, what're you doin' here?" Dally's voice was rough and Pony winced at it. He heard the wincing, but he only half-cared. He was trying to protect him. Pony wasn't supposed to be there. He's supposed to be in bed.

"I just wanted to see you," Pony fiddled with his fingers, still nervous to look directly at Dallas. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

"Why the hell would you want to see me?" Dally puzzled.

"Well, I haven't seen you since," he trailed off and rubbed his neck. Pony finally looked at Dally. "Why? You don't want me here?"

Dally felt bad he had given the younger teen the wrong idea, "It's just that you...Darry told me what happened after I...and kid, you shouldn't even be here!" It was impossible even for him to pick words to say in this situation.

Pony smiled. He was glad that Dallas was concerned for him. For a minute or two, he thought that Johnny was all he loved and cared.

Dally chuckled, ignoring the tint of pain on his stomach. "What are you smilin' about?"

"Nothin', I'm just glad that you care," he trailed off. "Umm, sorry, I'm talkin' weird. I have to go before Darry gets home. He'll skin me."

Pony gets up from the chair and swayed slightly. He had hoped Dally didn't notice.

"You okay, Pone?" He clearly noticed.

"Yeah, Dal, I'll just walk it off," Pony said as he rubbed his temple.

"You sure you don't need a ride home from someone in the gang?" His tone was showing protectiveness.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, creasing his forehead and leaving the room. "Bye, Dally."

Dally was left lying in bed. He knew that Ponyboy wouldn't be okay. And he won't be for a while. The kid had gone through a lot in just a mere week.

"And I didn't fucking help at all," he said, muttering. He turned his head to the window.

What the hell was I thinking, he thought, Johnny wouldn't want this. How stupid could he be? Why couldn't he think when Johnny died?

He refused to see the gang now. He's thinking more clearly and free from suicidal thoughts. No way was he going to drag himself how much grief he had put them through. Dally would just show weakness and he's never up to that.

Dally thought that maybe he'll just spend time with Tim Shepard and his gang for a while.

--

A/N: Umm, yeah I don't have any ideas to continue it, so, I'll stop here.

And I would like to thank Lady Chitose for being the Beta Reader for this one-shot. :D

Before you say OMG CONTINUE, go read "Good Night."

Review?


End file.
